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Nice Guys lose, Don’t they? Ethical Dilemmas

Nice Guys lose, Don’t they? Ethical Dilemmas. Orientation. Why leaders can’t ignore ethics Ethical issues often unwelcome in pursuit of economic success Focus of dilemmas on whether cost of ethics damages profits Is leadership ultimately a moral process?

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Nice Guys lose, Don’t they? Ethical Dilemmas

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  1. Nice Guys lose, Don’t they?Ethical Dilemmas

  2. Orientation • Why leaders can’t ignore ethics • Ethical issues often unwelcome in pursuit of economic success • Focus of dilemmas on whether cost of ethics damages profits • Is leadership ultimately a moral process? • Ethical behaviour vital dimension in understanding leadership process

  3. Platforms of Understanding • Where does ethics appear on personal leadership map? • Leadership literature largely ignores ethical dilemmas • Ciulla explores what is meant by ‘good’ leadership • MacGregor Burns and ethical implications of transformational leadership • Greenleaf’s ‘servant leadership’ explores ethical development of followers

  4. Ciulla’s Exploration of Ethical Leadership • Focuses on understanding how to confront moral dilemmas of leadership • Dilemma rests on beliefs about conduct and achievement • Ethical ‘tokenism’ – way ethics are integrated in leadership texts • Ethics seen as matter of practical knowledge not needing theoretical exploration

  5. Significance of ‘Good’ Leadership • Broader implications of ethics for organization not understood • Simplistic notion that good leadership only associated with effectiveness of results • Focus on describing what leaders do rather than ethical consequences of leader’s actions • Ciulla’s good leadership addresses moral well-being & development of followers

  6. Voices of Ethical Leadership • MacGregor Burns - Transformational Leadership places strong emphasis on followers’ needs, values & morals • Leader attempts to move followers to higher standards of moral responsibility • Leader differentiated from follower with more developed sense of ethical values • Leader engages with followers & helps in personal struggles regarding conflicting values & process • Addresses weaknesses of coercive authoritarian leader styles

  7. Greenleaf – Servant Leadership • Leadership about attending to moral needs of followers • Good leadership – followers take on ethical values of leader • Followers developed into morally responsible and autonomous leaders • Ethics at the heart of leadership – treat others as you wish to be treated

  8. The Manipulative Leader • Manipulation an influence process • Use implies relationships with low concern for moral issues • Manipulative leaders argue for ‘best’ interests of others • Leadership style can be highly effective and associated with integrity • Leader’s role to influence through non-coercive means • Strategies of seduction - When does manipulation become morally acceptable?

  9. Ethical Dilemmas of Leadership • Good leadership means more than productive leadership • Should successful leadership styles that ignores well-being of followers be encouraged? • Ignoring ethical responsibilities removes dilemma • Concern with ethics as means to achieving ends (compliance) unable to deal with non-ethical and productive possibilities, or with ethical and unproductive possibilities

  10. Summary (1) • Morality versus effectiveness of performance is the fundamental ethical dilemma • Dealing with dilemmas, leaders often seek pragmatic justification of actions (including tokenism, and ethical rhetoric) • Tension between commercial well-being and ethical probity increasingly ‘on the agenda’ • Equating good leadership with short-term productivity can hide ethical dilemmas

  11. Summary (2) • Attention to ethics aligned with business success • Ethical Imperative – maps of Burns & Greenleaf offer moral certainty for leaders • If leadership is a moral process then ethical dilemmas remain to be worked through in practice • As role models, leaders have an obligation to align values of followers to the ethical values of leadership • Morality of leaders then helps develop a moral as well as an economically sensitised culture

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